S&P 500 closes higher, Nasdaq jumps for eighth day as both indexes add to 7-week advance: Live updates

The S&P 500 rose Monday as the market maintained the momentum seen during its seven-week winning streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed, gaining just 0.86 points, or 0.00%, to 37,306.02. The S&P 500 climbed 0.45% to 4,740.56. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.61% to 14,904.81.

The S&P 500 is now 1.2% away from its all-time closing high at 4,796.56 that was reached in January 2022.

Communication services outperformed in the S&P 500, with the sector up 1.9%. Mega-cap tech names such as Meta Platforms gained about 3%, while Google-parent Alphabet jumped more than 2%.

U.S. Steel shares surged 26% after Japan’s Nippon Steel said it would buy the company in a deal valued at $14.9 billion.

The S&P 500 is coming off its longest string of weekly gains since 2017. The broad market index is up by 3.8% for the month. The Dow is higher by 3.8%, and the Nasdaq has gained 4.8%. The Dow also posted an intraday record on Friday, while the Nasdaq 100 registered a new closing high. 

Investor sentiment took a positive turn last week after the Federal Reserve indicated three short-term interest rate cuts are expected in 2024 amid cooling inflation. Treasury yields dropped, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling below the 4% level.

“It’s a continuation of what we’ve seen throughout much of the month and that is, inflation seems to be coming down, and interest rates are trending lower and earnings, to this point, have stabilized,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “That’s a constructive backdrop for equities.”

Still, there are some concerns ahead for investors as they turn to a new year, according to Sandven. The strategist expects some weakness in earnings forecasts as present projections are too high.

“The potential for corporate earnings pressures, in addition to valuations that are already elevated, are among factors that temper our cautiously optimistic outlook,” Sandven added. “We think the tug of war between bull and bear markets remains balanced for the new year.”